My India Experience: An Appeal

Hello and Namaskar,
On February 2008 I completed a one-year backpacking through remote rural villages and towns across India.

Returning to India, I wish to create a vivid, impressive and inspiring film for the Indian, American, and the global community. Your support is welcome and essential.

The Program:
Upon my return to the USA back in 2008, I launched “My India – Where every village is Home” – a public program.

For the past two years I have been sharing slide show presentations and talks with audiences all over California and Arizona. The venues include universities, public libraries, bookshops, inns, private events and even Indian restaurants and coffee shops. Past events’ details and photos are posted on the Event Calendar

My India program was featured in many publications in the US and India and on TV. Most are available for view onwww.myindiaexperience.com.

I do not charge admission or speaker fees, in the exercise of unconditional kindness I experienced at Indian villages.

The Aim:
The program is designed to inspire Americans to explore the traditional rural Indian practices, at a time when we struggle to find social and environmentally sustainable means of living. On the other hand, to backup Indian villagers in maintaining and balancing their traditional life in the face of increasing ‘westernization.’

The Next Step:
Set to depart for India on January 18th 2011, I continue the experience in rural and tribal villages. With the aid of a mobile projector, courtesy of Mr. Atul Thakkar, who also donated a flight ticket, the movies shot and edited on-site at a village or town would be screened for the locals to view.

Later, upon returning to the USA, we will edit these into a full feature movie. The movie will be freely available online for anyone’s personal viewing at no cost.

Benefits:
To Indian Villagers:
Taking pride in their own traditional ways of living, by:

Documenting the interest a foreigner is taking of their everyday traditions.

Watching a documentary film and viewing themselves on the big screen.

Be aware and cautious about adopting doubtful modern practices.

To Americans and the international community:

Introducing an opportunity to experience India’s millennia-old sustainable culture, that is still in place and practiced today.

Sharing the “How To” of traveling a personal, unplanned, unfolding-asyou-go route through India. A journey that fosters trust in unknown environments and people through experience, observation, insight, and realization. An experience that dissolves preconceived patterns and is much likely to become a turning point in life.

To both Americans and local villagers:

True Eco–Tourism. Encouraging a more balanced spread of foreign tourism money among India’s 600,000 villages and towns. Providing locals with an opportunity to maintain traditional life, for generations of Indians and westerners to come.

Have a personal interaction and introduction of East to West and vice versa. A more relaxed way to understand each other’s culture than a corporate or commercial based approach. (90% of the 5 million foreign tourists per year stay within 10 of the 28 states that compose India. Even then it is within a few big cities and commercialized tourist destinations. Data by India’s ministry of tourism, here).

Your help:
To maintain a reliable documentary project, with no limitations, restrictions and free of commercial or political interests, I am seek contributions from private donors, avoiding corporate sponsorships or government funding.
The following new/used gear (or the equivalent $3800) for purchasing is required:

New/used gear, software or service donations are welcome.
Any donation is greatly appreciated, $1 goes a long way in rural India, it is the fare of
a 4 hour local bus ride. Donations can be made by any credit or debit card secured
by Paypal on the website’s Donate page. A check can be sent to the address below
(Please mail prior to my departure date, January 18th 2011)

Other ways to help, please:
1. Share this letter with others (email, facebook, twitter etc.)
2. Please suggest sources which may help
3. Please assist me in contacting a magazine/newspaper to write for (US/India)
4. Please recommend a volunteer in India who may help as cameraman